Dual pneumatic tire



June 7, 1932.

`G. A. HANDY DUAL PNEUMATIC TIRE Filed Feb. 9. 1951 Patented June 7, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE cannon .L HANDY, or mou, OHIO, Assrcivon ro 'rnn eoonrmn Tran a numana cOirrANY, or mon, OHIO, A CORPORATION or OHIO e DUAL PNEUMATIC TIRE Application led February 9, 1931. Serial No. 514,400.

The invention relates .to pneumatic wheels equipped with pneumatic tires, and it has particular relation to a dual wheel wherein a pair of pneumatic tires are .mounted in spaced relation.

The object of the invention is to provide a dual wheel mounting equipped with pneumatic tires, wherein the sizes of tires and rims are so related that wear on the inner tire caused by the wheel operating over crowned roads is reduced to a minimum.

Dual Wheels equipped with pneumatic tires are employed largely on busses operating over pavements that are crowned for the l5 purpose of causing water tc drain from the road to the sides thereof. Ordinarily, the surfaces of the tires are disposed in the same horizontal plane, and accordingly, when the tires are operated over the pavements referred to, the tire at the lower side of the pavement is not subjected to as much wear as the tire contacting with the higher portion of the pavement. Another wa of stating this fact is that the tire contacting with the higher portion of the pavement supports a greater percentagev of the load, and therefore, does not last as long as the tire contacting with the lower side of the pavement. In'

view of these facts, tires on dual wheels 83 which are adjacent the vehicle vordinarily fail much uicker than the outer tires. Failure of the inner tires prematurel is not desirable and it is the purpose of t e invention to minimize the excessive wear on the inner tire caused by crowning of the pavement.

According to the invention, dual rims are mounted on a wheel in an ordinary manner, but the inner rim is wider than the Outer rim.

That is, the distance between the tire-engaging flanges on the inner rim is greater than the distance between the tire-engaging anges on the outer rim. Tires of the same molded dimensions are mounted on both of the rims but in view of the fact that the rims have diderent widths, the bead portions of the inner tire are spacedfarther than the bead portions of the outer tire. This increases the air volume of the inner tire and also changes its cross-sectional contour inl 5 such marmer that ordinarily the tire vhas a greater area of contact with the roadway. Increased road-contacting surface and increased air volume enable the tire to sup ort a greater load without changing the loa on a unit area of tire surface. Accordingly, the inner tire can support a greater load than the outer tire, although at the same time a unit area of both tires can be supporting the same load. Since the inner tire in a dual construction of this character when operating over crowned pavements necessarily must support a greater load than the outer tire, the construction described enables the inner tire to support this increased load without the excessive wear which ordinarily resulted in dual tires used previously.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawing wherein the figure is a cross-sectional view of a dual wheel constructed according to the invention.

Referring to the figure, a wheel 10 is provided comprising a plurality of spokes 11 having a felloe 12 rigidly mounted ou their outer ends. The side of the felice adapted to be disposed next to a vehicle on which the Wheel is mounted, is provided with an inclined portion 13 which supports a rim 14. The outer rim of the wheel is indicated at 15 and is supported by a wedging ring 16 seated upon the outer edge of the felloe and secured thereto by clamping bolts 17. The rims 14` and 15 are maintained in spaced relation by an annular member 18.

Each of the rims is provided with tireengaging flanges 19 and 20. The distance between adjacent sides of the tire-engaging flanges on the rim 14 is indicated by the letter A while the distance between the tireengaging flanges on the outer rim is `indicated by the letter B. In a particular application of the invention, the rim 14 is of the 9 inch to 10 inch type, while the rim 15 is of the 8 inch type. 9 inch to 10 inch type of rim is approximately 7 .33 inches, whereas the distance B in the 8 inch rim is 6 inches. In other words, the tire-engaging flanges in the rim 14 are spaced 7 .33 inches, while the 'tire-engaging flanges in the rim 15 are spaced 6 inches.

On both of the rims 14 and 15, tires 22 of he distance A in the l lo the tire mounted onthe rim 14 is considerably lar er than the air volume of the tire mounte on the rim 15.` When the bead portions of a tire are moved apart, movement of the side walls of the tire occurs a l5 proximately about the median line exten ing circumferentially of the tread portion of the tire and more of the tread portion l01E the tire is moved into road-contacting positions.

Consequently in the tire mounted on the rim 2 14, the road-contacting surface thereof is larger than the road-contacting surface of the tire mounted on the rim 15.

Since the road-contacting surfacel of the tire mounted on the rim 14 is increased, the unit load of this tire may be maintained substantially equal to the unit load on the tire mounted on the rim 15, notwithstanding the 1fac(tl that the inner tire supports a greater Whenthe wheel is operated over crowned pavements, the inner tire necessarily must support a greater load than the outer tire.

moana 4. A pneumatic tired` wheel comprisi a plurality of rims which va tween tire-engagin flanges, tires of substantially the same mo ded size mounted on the rims, said tires having substantially the same radial depth but varying in distances be-v January, 1931.

' 4GEORGE A. HANDY.

' Hence, it is apparent that the invention en- A ables the inner tire to withstand the increased load more efficiently. The life of the inner tire is increased considerably as a result of the invention.

Although only the preferredvform of the invention has been described and shown in detail, it will be apparentito those skilled in the4 art that the invention is not so limited but that various minor modifications may be made therein without departing from the s irit of the invention or from the scope of t e a pended claims.

at I claim is:

1. A pneumatic tired wheel comprisin a plurality of rims which vary in width tween tire-engaging flanges and tires of approximately the same molded size mounted on the rims.

2. A pneumatic tired wheel comprising a plurality of rims which vary in width between tire-engaging flanges, and tires of substantially the same molded size mounted on the rims, the widest rim being on the side to be disposed nearest the vehicle.

3. A pneumatic tired wheel comprising u n plurality of rims which vary in width bet.'- tween tire-engaging flanges, tires mounted on the rims, said tires having substantially- 'the vsame radial depth but -varying in distances between bead ortions corresponding to the variation in istances betweenl tire- 'C engaging flanges on the rims.

in width v 

